Spain, leader in technological recycling

Starting in 2017, technology manufacturers will have to recondition a part of all the devices that are produced in the country

   In 2017, technology manufacturers will be obliged to reuse at least 2% of large electrical appliances and 3% of small ones. A figure that will increase by one percentage point for the year 2018.

Some figures that will be a small effort, since Spain is the first European country to prioritize the reuse of electronic and electrical devices against their recycling.

  The Government has marked as objective, "the reuse of 3 percent of computer products and small appliances and 2 percent in the case of large electrical appliances for next year," increasing by one point, respectively, in 2018 , as pointed out by the company Back Market.

Although it is a "small percentage", it supposes that Spain leads the reconditioning of technological products in front of the rest of European countries. "The reuse of technological devices has now become the only alternative to an inefficient recycling system to reduce levels of electronic waste," says Back Market CEO Thibaud de Larauze.

The growth in the volume of electronic waste, added to the fraud and the high costs that occur in the recycling process in Spain, has led the institutions to look for alternatives for the reduction of this waste. "We must remember that this is the residue that currently grows most in Spain, around 20 percent every year," the CEO adds.

To reduce this pollution, the Government has already introduced changes in the law on the treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), to put the reuse of electronic devices before the recycling processes and thus encourage the most efficient use of technological devices , lengthen its useful life and slow down the growth of electronic waste.